The
2003 equestrian competition season will open in the light of international
dressage, with the Italian stop of the FEI World Cup, which will
take place in San Patrignano from Saturday 25th to Sunday 26th January
2003.
For two days, the indoor arena of the community will host the competition
among 28 riders representing 11 Nations: Austria, Belgium, Germany,
UK, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Russia. Among
them, the best performers of the speciality, such as the German
Isabelle Werth, twice world champion and Olympic gold in Atlanta
'96, and her compatriots Gina Capellmann and Monica Theodorescu,
respectively ranked in third and seventh place in the FEI World
Cup 2002/2003 standings. Many other top class riders are expected,
such as the Swiss Daniel Ramseier, 5th in the cup ranking, the British
Richard Davidson, 6th and the Russian lady rider Alexandra Korelova,
currently second classified in the Central European League. At the
starting line, the Italian participation is also foreseen, represented
by the top speciality riders: James Connor and Stefano Blasi.

"We
have all the requirements to repeat the success of the last year
- says Giacomo Muccioli, responsible of San Patrignano´s sports
events. In May 2003 San Patrignano will celebrate its 25th anniversary
and the high level event represented by the World Cup will open
a very significant year for our community. But most important is
for us to notice that dressage has obtained the same positive results
of the jumping shows. The FEI Dressage World Cup represents the
first stage of a path taking a community for the rehabilitation
of drug addicts to host the 2005 European Jumping Championships:
an unprecedented event in the history of sports".
In the two-days-long event, which will assign a 43.000€ prize,
two competitions will take place each day, starting at 9.30 and
14.30. The final competition, the "Free Style Grand Prix"
(Kur test with music), taking place in the early afternoon of Sunday
and showing different exercises and coreography for each of the
riders participating, will see the participation of the top 12 combinations
out of Saturday´s selection (Grand Prix).
It will be them to compete for the qualification to the 2002/2003
FEI Dressage World Cup, at four competitions to the final that will
take place at the end of March in Gotheborg (Sweden).

The
World Cup at San Patrignano will be followed by Rai Sport Satellite
and broadcasted on Thursday 28 January (7.40 pm). The recording
of the Free Style Gran Prix will be broadcasted on Thursday 30 January.
For further information: www.sanpatrignano.org